It seems that throughout man's history segments of the population have found the need to look down upon outsiders. In America it has been, not necessarily in this order, blacks, the Irish, Asians and hispanics. They get blamed for everything from trashing formerly nice neighborhoods to being the cause of increasing crime rates. Now I am seeing Islam and non european Islamic immigrants as being the new group to be berated and looked down upon. Believe me Islamic radicals and extremists scare the hell out of me but not much more than extremist Jews and Christians. Anyone who twists their religion to the point where they feel justified to destroy property and even worse kill other people scares the hell out of me. Education about the true inspiration behind most religions would be a good start toward defusing the situation but I also think that governments around the world need to take a united stand that extremism in all it's forms will not be tolerated.

My only problem with this solution is that where democratic style governments are in power I don't have an answer about how such a task can be accomplished.Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

We have the same trend over here in the UK. Everybody is undermining and sniping at everybody else. I think there are many reasons for it.

We still have a world recession and no-one anywhere can see an end to constant belt tightening.

The political situation in the USA is on a knife edge as they approach the presidential elections. We in the UK are building up to a similar situation in 2 years time.

Everywhere you look there is instability. Middle East countries, North Korea. That unsettles people.

I think the thing over here that gets most folks butt red hot, Is That the fat cats we elect just keep on piling up the debt like ther is no tommorrow. Plus the laws they pass as regards to health and other things dont apply to them because THEIR SPECIAL.
Wish I could get some of there benifits by taking bribes, Er campiang funds. Excelant health and retirement benifits to boot. All for being a paid thief, liar and or pervert. [/quote]

Over here we had 10 years of "New" Labour piling up debts and spending money that they and the country didn't have. This current government is having to put that right, which is of course proving unpopular. As for health, we are lucky in the UK in that we have the NHS, for medical treatment. I've just had an operation for Dupytrens Contracture which privately would have cost £4000, but which was free in my local hospital,s Day Surgery Unit. I could have gone private via BUPA but I wouldn't have been any better treated.

Most senior executives get free BUPA treatment for them and their families, and also have generous, and sometimes non-contributory pension schemes, and performance bonuses. Often these add-ons can be worth more than the basic salary. In the case of MP's the current annual salary is £65K, which compared to mid range Company Directors is not that excessive given the hours they put in, both at Parliament and their local constituency.

In addition, MPs receive expenses to cover the costs of running an office, employing staff, having somewhere to live in London and in their constituency, and travelling between Parliament and their constituency. OK, some in the past have made a handsome profit out of bending the rules, that option has now been closed. I can't comment upon the situation in the USA as I don't have first hand knowledge of it.

The problem is that anywhere in the world, the gap between the haves and the have nots is widening, and all the time we hear of these so called fat cats creaming off what people see as exorbitant profits. It is no wonder that the man in the street feels he is being dumped on from a great height. Investigative journalism had a Phoenix moment with the Watergate affair and has never looked back. A lot of what we hear these days was always there, it is just more in the public eye now.

So what do us the general public do about it all? We should use our vote and make it count in elections, but in so doing we should use it sensibly and wisely, and not get swayed by the media who have their own political agenda. Sometimes the devil you know is better thane the devil you don't know.

I have said before anyone can respect those just like themselves. But to be a decent person you need to value those that are different than you.

Hatred has a long and bloody history. Get over it and realize that people are people, good/bad/indifferent the world over. Different cultures? Different customs? Everyone has a reason why they do something a certain way. It may not be a GOOD reason, but there is a reason.

Learn from each other, listen more than talk, watch more than show. And step up to be a real human being. (to: no one in particular)
Janice